Anything with a Needle

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

My Fiber Arts Guild, Just Needles, had a purse class recently. I was using this method for making a square bottom on the tote and a few of the members were not aware of this. Soooo, I decided to create a little Tute for it...Here it is:

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measure from the fold 1/2 the desired width of the bottom plus 1/4"

measure the same distance from the SEAM line

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cut along markings. It will be a square from the seam line (not the edge) to the fold

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Now, match the FOLD to the SEAM. Stitch. This will create a square bottom. A 1" square will create a 2" wide bottom. ﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿

Wow! been a long time since I posted and this thing has sure changed!!! I just sent my mug rugs to the UK for the latest Quilting Gallery swap. I really love these swaps!
My friend, Jeanette, and I are getting very excited as our trip to Scotland, Wales, and England approaches. We will be leaving June 6 and returning in July 9!! What a trip! I will try to remember to post pics when we get back.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

I finally finished the mini quilt for Quilting Gallery "New Beginnings" mini quilt swap. I started over 6 times!!! They just wouldn't talk to me. At first I was being way too literal. Then I found a pattern that worked wonderfully Except when I sewed the rows together---YUK! I apparantly didn't trim leaving a quarter inch seam all around the blocks. Hmmm, that won't work...Soooo, begin again! Another new beginning, huh?!! Here is the finished product.
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front

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back showing the free motion quilting

The title of New Beginnings somehow threw me off...Don't know why...the pattern I finally chose was from a BOM at Craftsy. The three stripes in a wave pattern represent the 3 tidal surge waves of Hurricane Katrina that hit the Ms Gulf Coast. I live about 2 miles from the beach. The entire coast had a new beginning after this storm. The borders are quilted in a flowing water pattern﻿﻿﻿ to symbolize the end of the storm. The scrappy blocks symbolize what most of us had left...scraps of what was. But, we put on our big girl/boy britches and started a New Beginning for ourselves! I am now happy with my choice for this swap. I hope my partner likes it! Can't wait to see what I get and from where..so exciting!!
Till next time---keep stitchin', Marsha

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Here is the pattern I will be using for the swap. It's called Scrappy Basket. Sorry for the quality. I am still trying to figure out inserting photos. For this one, I had to copy from a pdf and paste into Paint, then save as a jpeg. Oh,well. It's here. More later on the progress.

I decided to participate in the Quilting Gallery Mini Quilt Swap. The theme is "new beginnings". Hmmmm. That opens a whole can of worms!! But I decided to go with a scrappy flower basket...reminiscent of spring...new flowers..Easter...new life....I am going to try to post the progress of this quilt. I am doing paper piecing aka foundation piecing. I love it! Have a friend who hyperventilates every time it is mentioned!! She does, however, enjoy English paper piecing.
That's all for now...more when there is more progress... Keep stitchin', Marsha

Monday, January 23, 2012

Settled into the new room...or should I say, been productive in the new room and now its messy so I have to clean it up before I can get started on the next project! But its fun having so much room.
I am sooo into Fascinators now. Made one for my oldest daughter to wear to a Carnival Ball this weekend. She hasnt seen it yet. Hope its what she was expecting!

Here it is. Looks festive to me!

I have also been working on baby gifts. Tried my hand at smocked socks.. Love them!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

After the craziness of Christmas, I decided to move into my new sewing space. The room I was using is 10' x 12'. Now it will be an office space. The new room is 10' x 20'. After moving in, I can't believe that alll that stuff fit in the other room! Well, with all this new space, I had better be productive. Here are some pics....

former sewing room

former sewing room other view

My embroidery hoop collection

Sewing area

ribbon , bows and hot glue area

The new space....Almost done!

cutting and hooping area

sewing area- other view

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, Boxing Day, Hannaka or whatever you celebrate at this time of the year! Until later, Keep Stitchin'! Marsha

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About Me

recently retired art teacher. Now living life as a traveling seamstress!!! Road trips are the most fun. My friend, Jeanette, and I have met the most wonderful people on our road trips. We try to stay in touch.
Oh, and my favorite colors are aqua, lavender, blue, mint. I absolutely love 30's fabrics, florals, civil war prints. My favorite drink is COFFEE!!!! lots of it, all flavors. more later as I think of it.